Latter-day Saint Life

Having vs. Holding the Priesthood

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we use two phrases interchangeably that can be confusing to even the most seasoned member of the Church. We refer to someone “having” the priesthood, and we refer to someone “holding” the priesthood. We don’t usually think of these two things as being different from each other, but for the purpose of this article I would like to make a subtle distinction between the two that might help in clarifying the issue of where women stand in relation to the priesthood that only men are ordained to.

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